Method of producing colloidal fuel



Nov. 9, 1948. D 2,453,641

' METHOD OF PRODUCING COLLOIDAL FUEL Filed Feb. 5, 1944- INVENTOR mm 5.126 2 ATTORNEY Patented Nov. 9, 1948 ora METHOD OF IRODUCING COLLOI'DALFUEL':

Carl S. Reed, New York, N. .Y., assignolnto The Lummus Company, ration of Delaware New York;'Ni Y.,' a" corpu Application February 5, 1944, Serial No. 521,215.:r

2 Claims.-

'Ihis'invention relates to a method and apparatus 'for obtaining valuable constituents from heavypresidual hydrocarbon materials, and more particularly to a method. andapparatus of proce essirig residual hydrocarbonoils whereby lighter volatile fractions may be extracted from the re-. siduum withthe simultaneous formation. of. .colloidal fuel! An object of the present invention is the production of a fuel mixture consisting of a fuel oil containing pulverized carbonaceous material suspended therein from heavy residuum stocks, and the removal and recovery of volatile hydrocarbons from the residuum.

Essentially the present process comprises ad mixing a pulverized carbonaceous material, such as coke dust, either in the dry state or in the form of thick oil paste, with a reduced crude bottoms and passing the mixture through a cracking heater similar to a conventional viscosity breaker. In passing through the heating zone the oilcoke mixture is subjected to a cracking temperature wherein the oil undergoes substantially drastic cracking with the carbonaceous coke particles which have been introduced serving as a nucleus for the deposit of additional carbon particles resulting from the cracking of the oil. After removal of the cracked vapors, the bottoms containing the combined accumulating carbonaceous particles from the cracked oil and the initially added coke dust are passed to a mechanical separator. The liquid and solid separated portions of the bottoms residue are there after blended into desired combinations to give substantially stable colloidal fuel of the proper viscosity. In some instances it may be desirable to add a wash fluid or thinning agent during the liquid-solids separation step to assist in the control of the ultimate viscosities of the liquid and solid components.

The accompanying drawing is a diagrammatic layout of the apparatus wherein the present process may be expeditiously and economically carried out. In this drawing numeral I denotes a conduit for the introduction into the system of heavy oil, such as residuum bottoms, heavy tars and the like, and as shown the line is controlled by valve 2. Joinin the line i is a second line 3 controlled by a valve 4 for supplying carbonaceous particles such as coke dust, preferably in the form of a viscous paste with oil. The admixture of heavy oil and carbonaceous material is thereafter pumped into a suitable heater, which may be a coil, indicated by numeral 5, wherein the mixture is subjected to a crackin temperature.. The heater .5 isioperated in.

such. a. manner and .athsuchhtemperatures that substantial. drastic crackingresultsland.substane latter .initially ,introdu'ced material vforms: nuclei for. deposition of theoiliicoke. The .outletfllof heater 5 is connected byline 6 to a fractionatiri'g tower I where the vapors from the cracked oil mixture pass out as overhead through line 8 in any suitable recovery or collection station. These recovered vapors may thereafter be treated in any desired manner.

The bottoms, comprising the oil, oil coke and added coke dust nuclei, are drawn oif from bot tom line 9 in the form of a viscous slurry, inasmuch as the heav bottoms contain some unvaporized liquid hydrocarbons. The bottoms are passed into a separating apparatus, which is preferably a Bird type centrifugal separator although any other suitable liquid-solids separator may be used. This separator separates the bottoms slurry into heavy fuel oil, which is carried out of the separator through line H, and the oil coke and coke dust base, which are removed from the separator through line l2. The separator is also provided with a line l6 controlled by valve ll for the introduction thereto of a suitable hydro-carbon wash fluid 0r thinning agent if it becomes desirable or necessary to wash or add diluent to the bottoms slurry being separated.

The solids line l2 leading from the separator I0 is connectedto line 2! through valve 23 and leads to a suitable grinding mill 22 connected to the carbonaceous material inlet line 3 whereby the separated coke paste after separation in the centrifugal separator ill may be ground into proper size and reintroduced into the system to form the initial nuclei for treatment of further heavy oil. The liquid oil line ll leading from the separator H! and controlled by valve I5 is cross-connected to the coke paste line [2 through line l8 controlled by valve 19, to enable the operator to properly proportion the ultimate colloidal fuel discharged from the system through line 26. The coke paste or solids discharge line I2 is also controlled by mixing valve I l, and thus this system of valve controlled conduits permits the operator to regulate the end products for the most economical operation and characteristics of the ultimate oil and colloidal fuel components.

I claim:

1. The method of producing a substantially stable colloidal fuel containing pulverized cari bonaceous material suspended therein which comprises continuously introducing finely divided coke particles of petroleum origin into a feed stream of reduced crude bottoms, continuously passing the mixture thus formed through a cracking zone, heating the mixture in said zone to a cracking temperature suflicient to deposit some petroleum coke on the said coke particles but insufficient to form a completely dry coke, removing the volatile materials liberated by such heating, separating the thus treated bottoms into a liquid fraction and a coke paste fraction, blending the liquid fraction with an amount of the coke paste fraction sufficient to produce a colloidal fuel of desired viscosity, and continuously recycling a portion of the separated coke paste fraction through a mill and thence into the feed stream of reduced crude bottoms.

2. The method of producing a substantially stable colloidal fuel containing pulverized carbonaceous material suspended therein which comprises continuously introducing finely divided cokeparticles of petroleum origin into a feed stream of reduced crude bottoms, continuously passing the mixture thus formed through a cracking zone, heating the mixture in said zone to a cracking temperature sufficient to deposit some petroleum coke on the said coke particles but insufficient to form a completely dry coke, remov- 4 ing the volatile materials liberated by such heating, separating the thus treated bottoms into a liquid fraction and a coke paste fraction, blendz'ng the liquid fraction with an amount of the coke paste fraction sufiicient to produce a colloidal fuel of desired viscosity, and continuously recycling a portion of the separated cokepaste fraction into a feed stream of reduced crude bottoms.

CARL S. REED.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 783,624 Davis Feb. 28, 1905 1,390,229 Bates I Sept. 6, 1921 1,657,815 Bates 11 Jan. 31, 1928 1,827,915 Seguy Oct. 20, 1931 1,838,547 Haslam et al Dec. 29, 1931 1,934,028 Asbury Nov. 7, 1933 1,940,648 Russell Dec. 19, 1933 2,064,715 Atwell -Dec. 15, 1936 r 2,114,416 Donnelly Apr. 19,1938 2,199,841 Saleh May 7, 1940 2,284,581 Kuhl May 26, 1942 2,301,322 Reeves et al Nov. 10, 1942 

